Afternoon everyone, Scratching my head on the best build for the show I'm starting... I'm prepping for a show where we'll be using my Movi quite a bit. Here are all the bits in my build at the moment. Movi Pro. *plus all the Ignite Digi accessories for the Movi. Alexa Mini LF Heden motors MDR4 Bolt 3K We're having a real difficult time figuring out the best way to build the camera without having to use a lot of counterweights all the time. It's really slowing down even the slightest adjustment (filter swaps etc.) because counterweights need to be adjusted etc. On top of that my Movi Camera has to be my studio cam as well so I'm trying to keep the mode switch fast. Right now my AC is trying a lot of different things... see some of his handy work at the moment in the pics attached. I don't get into prep until Thursday but wanted to see if anyone had ideas on how to make the build cleaner/easier? It would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Steve Deneault
Why do you have counter weights up front by the lens? Usually I have to counterweight the back so I can slide the camera forward away from the roll beam. These seem to be counter-productive. My honest answer is it's far easier with a Ronin 2. I've had to do lots of quick-swaps from studio build, and the R2 makes this much easier. Or a 2nd camera body that's Movi-ready could work.
Hi Steven, your build does not seem right... The idea of the Ignite counter-weight system is to have the ability to take the camera out without the counter-weight. What makes the change to tripod more smooth. Never add weight next to the center of gravity, as it has almost no effect. If you need to add it, do far as possible. And we usually only need it at the back... You may only need at the front if the lens are made of plastic, and I think it is not the case. Accessories like a Teradek, can be used as a weight also, add it to the back of the camera. Those gears from your FIZ motors can be changed to fine tune the weight, I would keep it closer to the center of gravity, as you did, but if you need more weight to the edge of the lens, you can change it. It was late response for your gig, but I hope it helps in the future.
I agree with all the responses above. Would also say if you used the WC4 you wouldn't need the MDR. Another thing that will help if your adventurous, extend the roll tubes 1inch. Cinemilled bars works great, i think they are 25mm. Beware this is a full day of work and requires extending the cable that goes to the roll bar 1 inch as well, so have a soldering gun handy or have someone who can do stuff like that ready to go. I can now rock a RED Gemini w/ long Zoom lens and matte box with ZERO counter weight, its kind of incredible.